The present invention relates to charger control in a portable electronic device, and more particularly, to an apparatus for performing multi-loop power control in an electronic device, and an associated method.
FIG. 1 illustrates an overlap effect from an overlap between activation time periods of multiple feedback loops of a conventional charger system according to the related art, where the horizontal axis represents the charging time, and the vertical axis represents the charging current. As shown in FIG. 1, when switching from a constant current (CC) phase (labeled “CC” in FIG. 1 for brevity) to a constant voltage (CV) phase (labeled “CV” in FIG. 1 for brevity), it is hard for the conventional charger system to prevent these multiple feedback loops from being active at the same time. As a result, one of these multiple feedback loops may affect another of these multiple feedback loops, and there are two transitions in the curve shown in FIG. 1, rather than a single transition corresponding to a sharp boundary at the transition time point. In addition, the charging time of the conventional charger system is enlarged due to this overlap effect.
FIG. 2 illustrates another overlap effect from an overlap between activation time periods of multiple feedback loops of a conventional charger system according to the related art, where the horizontal axis represents the charging time, and the vertical axis represents the charging current. As shown in FIG. 2, when switching from an IBAT phase (labeled “IBAT” in FIG. 2 for brevity) to an ICL phase (labeled “ICL” in FIG. 2 for brevity), it is hard for the conventional charger system to prevent these multiple feedback loops from being active at the same time. As a result, one of these multiple feedback loops may affect another of these multiple feedback loops, and some charging characteristics of the conventional charger system are degraded. In addition, the charging time of the conventional charger system is enlarged due to this overlap effect.
In conclusion, there are many problems in the conventional charger systems, and each of the conventional charger systems cannot guarantee high stability in each of various situations. Thus, a novel architecture is required to reduce (e.g. to remove) the overlap effects, in order to guarantee the overall performance of the whole system.